NEW DELHI:Private equity investment activity in India witnessed a significant jump in the month of July as there were 54 such transactions worth $ 1.85 billion, led by the $ 1 billion investment in Flipkart.

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton's latest Dealtracker, PE deal value during July increased to $ 1.85 billion as against $ 804 million in 2013.

In the first seven months of this year also there has been a significant uptrend both in terms of number of deals and value of deals as 341 private equity transactions worth $ 7.17 billion. In January to July 2013, there were 250 deals worth $ 6.48 billion.

"There has been clear upswing in the M&A and PE deal activity with 3 $ 1 billion plus deals in the month of July and with $ 30 billion deal value during the first seven months (January-July 2014)," Grant Thornton India LLP Partner Raja Lahiri said.

A sector-wise analysis shows that the IT & ITeS sector witnessed 23 transactions worth $1.16 billion, followed by the energy and natural resources with 5 deals worth $ 195 million. Real estate and retail and consumer sector witnessed 5 transactions each worth $183 million and 33 million respectively.

Flipkart raising $1 billion in fresh round of funding was termed as the deal of the month in the PE space.

"E-Commerce continues to dominate in PE space and we witnessed landmark deal of $ 1 billion investment into Flipkart, which was followed by $ 2 billion investment proposal by Amazon," Lahiri said.

Other major deals in the PE space during July include Renew Power Ventures securing fresh round of funding worth $ 140 million and global private equity firm Apax Partners' $ 83 million infusion in Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company in the second and third place respectively.

The report further said that post elections, domestic and inbound activity has seen a resurgence in terms of value and volume of deals.

Going forward, deal activity is expected to go up further especially in the inbound deals segment as international players are betting on Indian assets.

"We believe that deal activity will continue to increase and we are already seeing renewed and robust interest from international players looking at Indian assets," Lahiri said.